"W.I.T.C.H." (pronounced "witch") is a 2022 song by Canadian
alt-pop
Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...
singer Devon Cole. It was released on July 7, 2022, via
Arista Records
Arista Records ( ) is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the American division of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. The label was previously a division of Bertelsmann Music G ...
. The song was written by Cole and songwriters John Mark Nelson and Alexandra Soumalias.
Background
Cole initially performed a demo of the opening verse of the song on
TikTok
TikTok, known in mainland China and Hong Kong as Douyin (), is a social media and Short-form content, short-form online video platform owned by Chinese Internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which may range in duration f ...
, where it received over 40 million views. She was singing original lyrics over a piece of instrumental backing music Nelson had shared on the platform.
A full version of the song was then released as her first single through
Arista Records
Arista Records ( ) is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the American division of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. The label was previously a division of Bertelsmann Music G ...
(who are owned by
Sony Music Entertainment
Sony Music Entertainment (SME), commonly known as Sony Music, is an American multinational music company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony Group Corporation. It is the recording division of Sony Music Group, with the other half being the ...
) on 7 July 2022. With nearly 300,000 pre-saves, it was Sony's biggest pre-save campaign for a female artist to that point. A music video followed.
"W.I.T.C.H." is an acronym for "Woman In Total Control (of) Herself". Cole described the song as reclaiming "the witch as a symbol of women's resistance. It celebrates women's strength, autonomy, and rebellion". The song was written by Nelson, Cole and Alexandra Soumalias, and produced by Nelson. The music was performed by Nelson on keyboards, guitar, bass and drum machine.
Cole received a
Juno Award
The Juno Awards (stylized as JUNOS), or simply known as the Junos, are awards presented by Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences to recognize outstanding achievements in Canada's mu ...
CBC Music
CBC Music (formerly known as CBC FM, CBC Stereo and CBC Radio 2) is a Canadian FM radio network operated by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. It used to concentrate on classical and jazz. In 2007 and 2008, the network transitioned towards a ...